Mount Union Rushes To The Next round

Football

Mount Union Rushes To The Next round

ALLIANCE, Ohio--Sophomore Jeremy Murray (Martins Ferry/Martins Ferry) rushed for 183 yards and No. 2 ranked Mount Union rushed for a season-high 309 yards as the Purple Raiders advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals for a 19th consecutive season beating Delaware Valley (Pa.), 31-3 in the second round of the NCAA Division III Football Playoffs.

After forcing a Delaware Valley (9-3) punt on the game's opening possesion, Murray ripped off an 81-yard touchdown run on the Raiders first offensive play and staked Mount Union to an early 7-0 lead.

The game stayed at that score until Delaware Valley faced with a 4th-and-goal from the Mount Union 4-yard line and Jake Sobchak kicked a 21-yard field goal to close the gap to 7-3 with 2:09 left in the half.

Chaz Jordan (Medina/Medina Buckeye) then returned the ensuing kickoff 37 yards to give the Raiders the football at the Delaware Valley 33-yard line. Four plays later quarterback Neal Seaman (Lousiville/Louisville) hit wide receiver Cecil Shorts III (Cleveland/Collinwood) across the middle and he dashed 20 yards for a score to make it 14-3 with 42 seconds left before halftime.

Mount Union then took the opening possesion of the second half and Seaman hit Shorts on passes of 23 and 13 yards to set up a two-yard Murrary touchdown plunge to extend the lead to 21-3.

In the fourth quarter, the Raiders would then get a 26-yard field goal from Tyler Almeida (Elyria/Elyria) and Shorts would run in a score from five yards out of the "wildcat" formation for the 31-3 final.

Shorts finished with 81 yards rushing with a score on seven carries and had 112 receiving on 10 catches with a touchdown and Seaman was 14-of-19 passing for 160 yards.

The Mount Union defense held an Aggie offense that was averaging 195.5 yards rushing and 426.9 yards of total offense to just 53 yards rushing and 277 total yards.

Linebacker Sam Kershaw (West Jefferson/West Jefferson) and defensive end Lambert Budzinski (Canton/Massillon Jackson) each had a team-best eight stops. Budzinski had two of Mount Union's five sacks to make him the Raiders' new single season leader with 17.0.

Delware Valley quarterback Mark Hatty was 21-of-38 for 212 yards passing, wide receiver Dan Heiland had five catches for 52 yards, running back Matt Cook had seven carries for 18 yards to lead the offense, while Rob Eagles had a game-high 12 tackles on defense.